This week's guest is the CEO of PR firm KCD, Rachna Shah. Having started her career at KCD as a junior publicist 29 years ago, she has seen firsthand the industry's customer approach go full circle — from a localized approach to a global one and back again.
And if you attend fashion weeks, you've seen Rachna — clad in black, headset on, swiftly moving between backstage and the front row. Ahead of New York Fashion Week, which starts next Wednesday, I called her to get the scoop.
We are working with the house of Alexander McQueen again in the US market. We have a long history with the house, since the days when it was integrated into the Gucci Group. We started working with Lee on all his Paris shows and through the transition with Sarah, which was such a personally meaningful time for the brand. So it's wonderful to be working with the brand again on their next journey. The energy from the Grammys this past weekend, with Lady Gaga paying homage to Lee on stage and [indie pop band] The Marías wearing custom designs by Seán, was so incredible.
We stopped in the transition from Sarah to Seán, which can happen when a brand is going through a reset. But we are very happy to be a part of the brand again.
Speaking of the US market, it seems to be such a focus for brands at the moment. Moncler just had its Grenoble show in Aspen, Chanel showed its pre-fall collection in New York... Why do you think that is?
With everything going on in the world right now and specifically in the US, it feels like the dissonance between the macro and the world of fashion is at an all-time high. Do you anticipate this NYFW to get particularly political?
It is devastating. And it is in these times that art, culture and storytelling become so important. It's very personal to each designer how they make their point of view known in a dark time. I think we're going to see across the season how the unrest is affecting that emotional output. But underneath it all, this is a business, and the economy of it needs to move forward. So it's about how you do that while still holding space for what's going on in this country.